Get matched with top pipe repairers in Elmwood, MA

"Everything went great! Needed to find a local plumber in an emergency on a Saturday and Chris was able to be there within 30 minutes of talking to him. He observed the job and communicated what would need to be done and fixed/replaced everything that needed to be. He did tremendous work and I will definitely be calling on him again should I need something done in the future!!"

"From consultation to finish, Jane and Brandon were very helpful and persistent on their job. Tite they installed are still looking new after 6 years."

"I purchased a special offer through angie's list for faucet installation. Chris was quick to respond via email and we set up at time over the phone for the following week. Mike arrived on time and did a great job (finally my sink faucet doesnt leak out the base!!!!). A piece of piping was necessary to install the new faucet and mike was able to have it readily available to complete the job without having to come back. I'll definitely use them again in the future (now i have to get the matching bathtub fixtures!!)
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"So Many Problems!! (though they tried hard to resolve them) Do NOT make the mistake we did and let them talk you out of pulling a permit. The work by this contractor should definitely be inspected. MA Design quoted a low price, used cheap (Home Depot grade) materials, and relied on workers with limited English skills. Plumbing and carpentry were problematic, seemingly due to inadequate training for some workers, spotty communication and quality control from supervisors, and some sloppy attention to detail. We should add that our foreman, John L, and the workmen were willing enough to fix problems after we discovered them, though we had to pay for time and materials when we found MA Design’s quality standards to be unacceptable. The end result of the bathroom remodeling seems OK and we hope that no more nasty surprises turn up in the future. The two supervisors are generally courteous and anxious to please, but poor communication with their workers and sometimes with us seemed to be typical for this contractor. Here are specific examples of our problems: PLUMBING 1. The plumber (apparently not licensed) installed the wrong shower controller in the wall, tiled over the wall, then tried to hide this mistake by sticking on the control handle taken from the shower controller we had specified. Of course, the controller did not work properly and we discovered what had happened by poking through the unused shower parts and calling the manufacturer. To correct this error, MA Design had to cut a hole in the plaster wall of our hallway. MA Design did repair the plaster but now we have an additional painting job because of their mistake. 2. We also discovered that their “plumber” tried to attach the tub spigot to flexible PEX tubing rather than to a solid copper pipe anchored to a stud in the wall. The spigot worked loose in just a few days. No qualified plumber would have made such a rookie mistake. Repairing this error also required the hole in our hallway wall. Clearly, no qualified supervisor inspected the plumbing before the tile went up in the shower enclosure. 3. Just 2 months after MA Design wrapped up the work, we found a serious water leak coming from the ceiling below the remodeled bathroom. This ruined the ceiling and of course ruined the paint job we had just completed in the room below the leak. To their credit, the supervisor quickly came out, cut a hole in the ceiling, and replaced a flawed PEX tubing fitting with a quick-apply fitting to stop the leak. MA Design then cut away large sections of water-damaged ceiling in two rooms, let things dry out for a few weeks, and applied mold-kill spray to address the mold that had formed. It seems that a fitting on the PEX tubing was not properly crimped. This reinforced our belief that the MA Design workers doing plumbing on our job were not well qualified and that MA Design did not choose to or did not know how to inspect work adequately. Several weeks later, MA Design eventually had the joint repaired by a licensed plumber and repaired the holes in the ceiling. 4. The shower enclosure tiling was done OK for the most part but we found holes in the grout around some tiles. We suspect that the grout job was substandard for another reason: the grout sealing the tub to the floor is cracking and flaking after only 2 months. CARPENTRY 5. We replaced the bathroom window with a safety glass window but MA Design replaced the prior window trim and window sill with lesser quality trim and no window sill whatsoever. This was a complete mismatch with the rest of the house. MA Design quoted use of “standard” trim. If MA Design’s estimate assumed replacing trim with something so obviously out of place with the rest of the house, this should have been clearly stated in the quote. We ended up paying to rip out their trim and replace with trim that matched the rest of the house. In fact, the lumberyard’s “standard” trim exactly matched the trim elsewhere in the house so we felt that MA Contracting’s use of “standard” to describe their materials was deceptive. 6. They also installed a new window in an adjacent room. They made the exterior windowsill out of a very knotty piece of pine, inviting future rot. Even worse, no drip edge was cut into the underside of the sill, which could lead to water wicking under the sill and getting into the exterior siding. No well qualified carpenter would have made a mistake like that. PAINTING 7. MA Design did very little painting for us, just some primer application after drywall installation. Still, the workman on our job made a rookie mistake. He applied primer to a repaired ceiling with a rough wall roller and then applied primer to the doorway trim with that same roller rather than with a brush or smooth roller. The result: the formerly smooth doorway trim now had a rough, thick layer of paint that looked and felt awful. It took us 2 hours of sanding to restore the doorway trim to a smooth surface. This experience reinforced our general impression that many, if not most, MA Design workmen are not properly skilled or trained for the work they are doing. COORDINATION & COMMUNICATION 8. We agreed at the outset which fixtures were to be bought by MA Design and which by us, but MA Design sometimes bought the wrong items, which resulted in confusion and delays. In many cases, we ended up buying the needed fixtures ourselves just to keep the project moving. 9. On at least 10 days, workers were expected but none showed up and MA Design did not call to inform us of this in advance."

"We were offered a few options, from bare bones, to top of the line. We went with middle of the road, and looks great. Used the paint we had and cleaned up the old plaster walls nicely."

"Paul was incredibly professional. He gave me a very competitive quote and completed the job just as he said he would. I would highly recommend Paul to anyone in the area looking for tank repair and replacement."

"I tried to clear both of these myself, unsuccessfully. Clearing one sink was complicated by some old and delicate piping that we didn't want to damage. He stuck with it, was very careful, and managed to clear both without needing to open walls or cut and replace pipe. Hurray!"

"The job required a quick trip to Home Depot by the plumber, but the installation was still completed quickly and I am very happy with the outcome. I would definitely hire Affordable Drain Flow again."

"We took out the old tiles, removed the toilet and baseboards, and bought the tile before they came to do the installation. The work was done on 9-01-16. When I went to wash off the remaining haze a couple of days later, I discovered that the tiles were two different shades. It was obvious when they were on the floor. The person doing the installation should have seen this. We think he did but, since he didn't speak any English, might not have known how to communicate that to us. We called Pacific Stone & Tile and they said that they would come and replace the tiles that needed to be replaced. We could not match either shade of tile and had to buy two more boxes with a different shade number. Twice an appointment was made and canceled. The third one, 9-26-16, was kept and they redid the whole floor with the new tile. Before they started, all of the tiles were laid out on the garage floor to check for any variations. We had to buy the material to install the tiles, but they did not charge for any additional labor. The floor was checked before they left and everything looks fine. Tomorrow I will wash down the tiles to remove any haze and we can start thinking about getting everything back together again."

"They were terrific, from start to finish. At our initial contact in August, Sabrina discussed scope and provided an estimate. Upon signing a contract, Maia put us in touch with various partner vendors to select fixtures, trim, tile, and stonewwork in October: they provided great guidance. When the work began in January, project manager David kept us apprised on the various steps (demo, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, plastering, etc.) and was very responsive to questions that arose. Jose made sure that the necessary fixtures and materials were delivered when needed. Marcio, the carpenter, did beautiful work matching our existing Victorian trim. Andreina, the operations manager, juggled all the scheduling flawlessly, and our main contact once work started. The job was mostly done in 6 weeks. The glass shower door was delayed a couple of weeks due to a problem at the vendor's end."